Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Affiliations
Accomplishments
Additional Information
Timeline
Generic

Jaya C Reddy

Overview

24
24
years of professional experience

Work History

Regional Senior Program Officer

R&E, Global Technical Services, GTS
10.2016 - Current
  • Nutrition International (NI), Asia Regional Office New Delhi
  • Nutrition International, a global leader in finding and scaling solutions to malnutrition by covering, leveraging, and influencing, strives to transform the lives of vulnerable people, especially women, adolescents and children, by improving their health and nutrition through large-scale interventions to achieve Universal Health Care and SDGs
  • Roles and Responsibilities
  • As a Global Technical Service Team Member, I play a vital role within the Asia Regional Directorate, providing technical leadership in program management, evidence-based research and evaluation, and grant management of NI core programs in five Southern and Southeast Asian countries, such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, and the Philippines
  • Research and Evaluation Leadership
  • Lead comprehensive research and evaluations on maternal and child health and nutrition interventions across South Asia, generating actionable evidence and disseminating data-driven insights through policy briefs and stakeholder presentations to influence national reforms to reduce child poverty and improve health and nutrition outcomes
  • Direct implementation research on health and nutrition programs, generating validated evidence that informs large-scale replication and resource allocation for high-impact interventions
  • Collaborate with government ministries and external agencies to develop robust Terms of Reference (ToRs) for health technology assessments, ensuring alignment with national mother and child-focused policies and supporting accountability in policy dialogue and implementation
  • Program Management
  • Facilitating strategic technical assistance for designing, planning, and implementing women & child-sensitive public health and nutrition interventions that strengthen health systems and improve maternal, adolescent girls and child health and nutrition outcomes in marginalised South Asian communities
  • Implementing capacity-building initiatives to align interventions with national health priorities and ensure program sustainability
  • Finance and Grant Management
  • Providing strategic financial guidance to the Director of Grant Portfolio and Country Directors on governance matters, including fiscal space, budget allocations, forecasting, and budget variance analysis for public health and nutrition programs
  • Secured fiscal accountability and optimal use of public funds through adherence to financial standards, risk mitigation, and enhancing the economic sustainability of health interventions
  • Significant Contributions and Achievements as a Global Technical Services Team Member
  • Implementation Research: Led strategic, operational, and technical support for three large-scale Implementation Research Projects in India and Pakistan (Maternal Nutrition, First 1000 Days and MMS)
  • Developed and implemented planning, design, and research protocols, ensuring alignment with global standards
  • Research and Evidence Generation: Developed and commissioned 19 ToRs and protocols, overseeing large-scale maternal and adolescent nutrition studies and managed the annual Nutrition Information Monitoring Survey (NIMS) covering all women’s and children’s health and nutrition indicators and conducted health technology assessments across five Asian countries, the India Iodine Survey 2018-19, to generate actionable data points that informed national child health, nutrition, and social protection policies
  • Enhanced Monitoring and Evaluation System: Revamped and implemented a Six-Step Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation (RM&E) System for all NI programs, particularly within the Right Start Project, improving data accuracy and system efficiency
  • This technology-driven approach facilitated data-driven decision-making and timely program adjustments
  • Finance and Grant Governance
  • Strategic Financial Support: Provide technical support to the Regional Director of Grant Management and five Country Directors on phased activity budgeting, budget analysis, and variance tracking
  • Monitor budget expenditures semi-annually to ensure alignment with intended action plans, organisational priorities, and donor mandatory requirements
  • Financial Allocation and Strategy Analysis: Conducted a comprehensive analysis of the past seven years of financial pooling and allocations across health and nutrition thematic areas and regions
  • Assessed the effectiveness of financial strategies and provided insights for the long-term planning and financial allocation framework for the Nutrition International Strategy 2025-30
  • Research Publications and Data Analysis: Co-authored ten research papers in national and international peer-reviewed journals, contributing to the academic and policy discourse on maternal and child nutrition
  • I analysed DHS/NFHS data in-depth across five Asian countries, providing visualised insights on child health and nutrition indicators to support program strategy.

General Manager

10.2010 - 10.2016
  • 1 years)

Monitoring & Evaluation Officer

CARE India
Hyderabad
11.2007 - 10.2010
  • Generation for Policy Dialogue and Change
  • Led evidence-based advocacy initiatives, engaging policymakers and parliamentarians through insights from HUNGaMA Surveys, which contributed to the Government of India’s designation of 200 high-burden districts and establishing the State Nutrition Mission Boards focused on child nutrition
  • Collaborated with district-level officials ( Collector, DMHO, DPO) and DPMU, Zilla Parishad Members in Odisha, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh to leverage real-time data for health prioritisation and resource reallocation, impacting high-priority areas such as water safety, malaria control, and health infrastructure enhancement
  • Engaged state-level stakeholders to align nutrition policies with global health governance standards, advocating for sustainable public health investments and policy adjustments at the state level
  • Community Health & Nutrition Promotion
  • Directed the HUNGaMA Project in support of the MAMATA and PMMVY schemes, with a strong focus on the First 1000 Days Approach to improve maternal and child health and nutrition outcomes in tribal communities in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan
  • Conducted targeted capacity-building sessions for over 1,000 health and ICDS personnel and educated 20,000+ pregnant and lactating women on maternal and child health, expanding knowledge and adoption of best practices in health and nutrition
  • Led the Agri-Nutri Tribal Project, implementing nutrition-sensitive agricultural practices to benefit 5,000 tribal households, advancing sustainable livelihoods and community health
  • Oversaw the CHAMPION Trail Project’s final phase, improving neonatal health and reaching 15,532 rural women across 232 villages, contributing valuable data for regional health policies
  • Finance and Governance
  • Administered an annual health and nutrition portfolio budget of over ₹25 crores, overseeing grant management across five major projects to ensure fiscal accountability, timely deliverables, and optimal budget utilisation
  • Established procurement policies, monitoring tools, and reporting protocols to enhance transparency and compliance with organisational and funder standards
  • Strengthened donor relationships and coordinated with senior leadership to advocate for program updates, ensuring alignment with regional health priorities and facilitating informed, timely decision-making
  • Associated 3+ years with CARE on the Integrated Nutrition and Health Project (INHP) funded by USAID and which emphasised women, adolescent girls & child health and nutrition interventions through system-strengthening and community-based alternatives across 115 districts in 8 states in India
  • The key strategies of the INHP project are:
  • Strategy 1: Technical, managerial, and operational support to ICDS/Health at state, district, and sub-district levels
  • Strategy 2: Support to strengthen mechanisms to enhance capacities and opportunities for the community and partner NGOs/PRI to hold service providers and programs accountable
  • Strategy 3: Responsive technical and operational assistance to selected states to replicate INHP approaches
  • Strategy 4: Advocacy and sector-wide support to influence policies and larger ICDS and RCH Programs
  • Reddy’s responsibilities and key achievements include:
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL)
  • Executed the implementation of RM&E systems, leveraging tools like TOC, DIP, LFA, activity-based budget tools, roster plans and integrating key performance indicators (KPIs) for effective project monitoring and reporting
  • Analysed health and nutrition key performance indicators using administrative data, CARE internal monitoring data, Annual Rapid Assessments, AHS, SRS, and NFHS, sharing timely results with the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) and Department of Health and Family Welfare (DHFW) to support swift, informed decisions aligned with health and nutrition governance goals
  • Best Practice Replication & Gender Equality
  • Played a crucial role in developing the ‘Standard Guidelines for Implementing Best Practices to Achieve Nutritional Outcomes,’ successfully replicated through the Incremental Learning Process across 23 districts in Andhra Pradesh
  • Developed and conducted capacity-building events for ICDS/RCH functionaries, training over 400+ senior and middle-level government officials (ICDS and NRHM) on strengthening ICDS services through program leadership development
  • Directed the Gender Just Family Project (GJF), promoting gender equality in health and nutrition across 380 villages in 19 mandals, significantly improving family health and nutrition for women in underserved communities
  • Public Health and Nutrition Finance and Governance
  • Spearheaded an in-depth mapping of the health financing landscape (State Health Accounts) for DWCD and DHFW under Andhra Pradesh Vision 2020, scrutinising trends in sanctions, allocations, and expenditures across thematic areas to produce strategic insights for refining budget cycles and strengthening the financial governance
  • Directed a large-scale health facility accreditation for over 100,000 Anganwadi Centers, Sub-Centers, and PHCs, ensuring protocol adherence and sharing findings with the DWCD and the DHFW to guide evidence-based budget allocations aligned with community health and nutrition priorities while addressing impoverishing expenditures to enhance financial protection
  • Developed and implemented an advanced activity-based budgeting tool and conducted thorough variance analysis to optimise budget utilisation
  • Strengthened public financial management systems by enabling DWCD, DHFW, and CARE India to make adaptive, data-informed financial decisions, address unmet needs, focus on equity lens, improve efficiency, and maximise impact
  • As a Catalyst in CARE India
  • Achieved Data-Driven Decision-Making and Strengthened Governance: Led the implementation of RM&E systems and periodic assessments and offered essential support in strategic planning and budgeting
  • Conducted and periodic assessments and analysed health and nutrition indicators, enabling DWCD and MHFW to make timely, data-driven decisions aligned with governance objectives
  • Advanced Health and Nutritional Outcomes and Gender Equality: Championed the replication of best practices across 23 districts in Andhra Pradesh, facilitated the training of 400+ government officials to bolster Health and ICDS services, and orchestrated the Gender Just Family Project, driving significant improvements in health and nutrition outcomes for women across the state
  • Transformed Financial Governance and Resource Allocation: Enabled DWCD and DHFW to strategically leverage evidence-based insights to align budget allocations with community priorities, driving more effective convergence, refined roster planning (NHDs), optimised budget utilisation and informed decision-making through data-driven processes, robust supportive supervision, and integrated capacity-building initiatives
  • Optimized Budgeting and Financial Performance: Led the development and implementation of a sophisticated activity-based budgeting tool, executed comprehensive budget performance variance analyses, and ensured optimal budget utilisation, empowering DWCD, DHFW, and CARE India to make adaptive, data-informed financial adjustments for improved efficiency and impact.

MEAL, Azim Premji Foundation
Hyderabad
04.2006 - 10.2007
  • Member-MEAL, I served for 1.9 years in the Andhra Pradesh Randomized Evaluation Study (APRESt)-COHORT STUDY
  • This study, conducted by the Azim Premji Foundation in collaboration with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the World Bank, aimed to test and examine the efficacy of different policy options to raise the standard of primary education in rural government schools in Andhra Pradesh.

Senior Research Associate

Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture
08.2000 - 04.2006

Senior Research Associate

ICAR
Hyderabad
  • With 5.3 years of, in the Section of Design and Analysis (SDA) at CRIDA, ICAR, and GoI, I conducted large-scale research and evaluations to enhance and develop suitable agricultural technologies and farming systems
  • Enacted a key role in 5 major research & evaluation projects (Livelihoods and Gender), submitted quality and scientific reports, and published 2 research books, 6 research papers and 7 articles in journals and seminars.

Education

PhD - Economics

SV University

Post Graduate Diploma - Computer Applications

PGDCA -

Imperial College

PMD -

Johns Hopkins University

Project Management for Development Professionals (PMD Pro-I) Program Management for Development Professionals (PMD Pro-II) MEAL Development Professional Certification (MEAL DPro) Financial Management for Development Professionals (FMD Pro) PGIMER -

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)

Skills

  • SKILLS & EXPERTISE
  • Thematic Expertise
  • Public Health & Nutrition, Education, Gender, Social Flagship Programs, Networking
  • Program Management
  • Program Strategy, Design, Plan & Implementation, Scale-up, Finance & Grant Management
  • PMEAL
  • Research, PMEAL, Evaluations, Leveraging Technology, Evidence Advocacy, SRMA
  • Digital Technology
  • Digital Health Technology, Generative AI, SPSS, STATA, NVivo, Advance Excel, Power BI
  • Leadership
  • Integrity, Response-ability, Catalyst, Ethics, Trust in Transformation, Balancing, Accepting
  • Core Competencies
  • Teamwork, Adaptive, Respect, Communication, and Creating an Empowering Environment
  • IIT Roorkee & Kharagpur
  • Health Economics
  • Health Research and Promotion
  • Health Economics and Health Care
  • Exploring Survey Data on Health Care
  • Handling Large-Scale Unit Level Data with STATA
  • EvalPartners
  • Equity and Gender Responsive Evaluations
  • Learning Programme in Development Evaluation
  • Emerging Practices in Development Evaluations
  • Evaluation & Advocating for Evaluation
  • CanWaCH
  • Gender Equality Training, Gender-Based Analysis Plus
  • Evaluating Social Programs from JPAL
  • Data Analysis Tools and Software Proficiency
  • Category
  • Tools/Software
  • Statistical Software
  • SPSS, STATA, Excel
  • Qualitative Data Analysis
  • ATLASti, NVivo
  • Data Visualisation
  • Power BI, Tableau
  • GIS and Mapping
  • QGIS
  • Survey and Data Collection
  • KOBO Toolbox, ENA
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • GenAI for Data Analysis

Affiliations

  • With over 23 years of experience as a Global Public Health Economist and Technical, Social Policy, and MEAL Lead, I have directed groundbreaking initiatives to reinforce health systems and financial protection frameworks in alignment with the SDGs. My work focuses on advancing equitable health systems and establishing strategic health policies to ensure financial protection for vulnerable populations through program design, implementation, grant management and health technology assessment (HTA), impact evaluation in maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition across Southern and Southeast Asia. My experience includes spearheading the development of national health policies and providing technical support to drive resilient and sustainable health outcomes. Program Leadership and Strategic Direction
  • MNCHNA+ Programs: Expertly designed, planned, and executed large-scale programs focused on health and nutrition outcomes aligning with SDG 2- zero hunger, SDG 3- health, SDG 5 - gender equity and SDG 10 - reduce inequalities.
  • Health System Strengthening (Universal Health Coverage): Leveraged multi-sectoral and Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) and WHO’s Building Blocks approach and health technology assessments to support a sustainable health system(Universal Health Coverage) with inclusive health outcomes and planned and conducted CB sessions on Comprehensive Project Cycle Management (CPCM) for relevant stakeholders.
  • Inclusiveness of Community: Pioneered community-led initiatives and integrated gender lens to create awareness and adopt best practices for better health and nutrition outcomes. Integrated Results-Based Management Systems (IRBM) With extensive experience in modern technology-driven IRBM systems, I harnessed digital health tools and frameworks like the ToC, LFA, and IPTT to enhance governance, accountability, and data-driven decision-making. My focus on gender equity and inclusive health strategies ensures that data collection, analysis, and reporting drive transparent and effective program outcomes aligned with national health priorities. Implementation Research and Health Economic Evaluation Proficient in health financing assessments, economic evaluations (cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, cost-utility), and policy analysis, I produced actionable evidence that supports policy impact and financial sustainability in health programs. My research has optimised health resource allocations and informed policies strengthening health financing governance. Leading scale-up strategies for validated interventions, I contributed evidence addressing key health financing and governance needs. Notable projects include the Integrated Nutrition and Health Project(INHP), HUNGaMA, Right Start, and implementation research on the First 1000 Days and Maternal Nutrition initiatives. Evidence Advocacy and Policy Influence As an advocate for evidence-based policymaking, I have orchestrated national surveys like HUNGaMA Surveys, the India Iodine Survey and Annual Nutrition Information Nutrition Surveys ( NIMS) across South Asian countries to generate insights that drive health policy and financial protection strategies for vulnerable populations. Health Finance and Governance With expertise in mapping the health financing landscape, activity-based budgeting, strategic purchasing, and variance analysis using GenAI tools, I ensure financial accountability and resource optimisation and promote financial protection by upholding rigorous grant oversight, transparency, and fiscal compliance. I collaborate with finance teams to ensure adherence to donor requirements, sustainable health financing and equitable access to health resources. Specific Achievements
  • H&N Portfolio Leadership: Directed large-scale health and nutrition initiatives for women, children, and adolescent girls, including pioneering national coverage surveys such as the Hunger and Malnutrition Survey (HUNGaMA), Teenage Girls Survey (TAG) and India Iodine Survey, Nutrition Information Monitoring Survey (NIMS) across five Asian countries to generate actionable data points that informed national policies on health, nutrition, and social protection.
  • Research and Impact Evaluations: Commissioned over 50 studies to evaluate project efficiency and effectiveness, providing data-driven insights to inform mother & child-centred public health policies and resource allocation
  • Publication Record: As a co-author, published more than 30 research books and papers in national and international peer-reviewed journals, utilising project-specific and global datasets.

Accomplishments

  • Led a 6+ year Health & Nutrition Portfolio (₹25+ crores annually), focusing on maternal, child, and adolescent health, with impactful nutrition and WASH interventions
  • Directed evidence-based projects like the HUNGaMA and Nanhikali projects, significantly improving health, education, and WASH outcomes for adolescent girls across diverse regions
  • As a Lead of the Health & Nutrition Portfolio
  • Leadership in Health and Nutrition Projects: Led the strategic design and implementation of health and nutrition projects to improve maternal and child health outcomes, focusing on regional priority areas and fostering collaborative project planning, incorporating regional insights and stakeholder input to align with broader nutrition and health goals
  • Project 1: Community Health Promotion and Medical Provision for Neonatal Health -CHAMPION Trail Project (2010-12) – Implementation Research Project on maternal and newborn care
  • Project 2: HUNGaMA Project: Solutions to Reduce Child Malnutrition(2012-16)- Implementation cum Cohort Project
  • Project 3: Tribal Agri-Nutrition Project (2015-16)-emphasises tribal health & nutrition and livelihoods
  • Project 4: Nanhikali- Girls Education and School WASH Program-MHM- Implementation cum Cohort Project
  • Evidence-Based Advocacy for Policy Change: I generated and leveraged real-time data on child health and nutrition to drive policy changes in social protection and public investments in women, adolescent girls and child services
  • Project 5: Rural HUNGaMA Survey-2010-11 (first-of-its-kind of pan India survey) (HUNGaMA Report | Naandi)
  • Project 6: Urban HUNGaMA Survey-2014-15 (first-of-its-kind of pan India survey) (HUNGaMA Report | Naandi)
  • Project 7: Teenage Girl Survey-2016 (first-of-its-kind pan India survey) (Indian Teen Age Girls Survey Report - Launched by Nanhikali)
  • Comprehensive Financial Leadership and Strategic Grant Management: Directed strategic financial frameworks and activity-based budgeting to align expenses with project goals, ensuring optimal resource allocation
  • Collaborated closely with finance teams to uphold compliance, accountability, and transparency, proactively managing risks through audits and reporting protocols
  • Led ongoing financial monitoring to make data-driven adjustments, maximising impact and supporting sustainable, scalable health and nutrition initiatives
  • Leadership in Health & Nutrition during Naandi Foundation, 2022)
  • Socio-demographic factors associated with anaemia among non-pregnant and non-lactating women from low-income families in two selected districts of Madhya Pradesh state of India: a random forest analysis
  • IJCMPH, Dec;9(12):4463-4471, https://www.ijcmph.com/index.php/ijcmph/article/view/5977/6314
  • Dr
  • Manoj Kumar Raut, Dr
  • J
  • C
  • Reddy, Debabrata Bera, Kirti Warvadekar (2019)
  • Enablers of vitamin A coverage among children (U5) from multi-country analyses of global demographic and health surveys in selected LMIC and LIC countries in Africa and Asia: a random forest analysis
  • IJCMPH, Jan;6(1) https://www.ijcmph.com/index.php/ijcmph/article/view/4050/2721
  • Dr
  • Manoj Kumar Raut, Dr
  • J
  • C
  • Reddy, Dr
  • Md
  • Ataur Rahman (2018)
  • Association between adherence to iron intake and anaemia prevalence among women in Cambodia and India: New evidence from recent Global Demographic and Health Surveys
  • IJCMPH, July 2018, Vol 5, Issue 7
  • Www.ijcmph.com/index.php/ijcmph/article/download/3075/2214
  • Warvadekar K, Reddy JC, Sharma S, Dearden KA, Raut MK (2018)
  • Socio-demographic and economic determinants of adherence to iron intake among pregnant women in selected low and lower-middle-income countries in Asia: insights from a cross-country analysis of global demographic and health surveys
  • IJCMPH; 5:1552-69
  • Http://www.ijcmph.com/index.php/ijcmph/article/viewFile/2621/1948
  • Rohini Mukherjee, J.C
  • Reddy and Manish Raikar (2017)
  • Lasting Impact of a Child’s Early Years – Focusing consistently on a child’s first 1000 days reduces undernutrition, Forest Lanterns - A Collection of Essays on Solutions for Nourishing India’s Tribal Children, A Collaborative work between UNICEF and OneWorld Foundation India, Penguin Random House India Pvt
  • Ltd
  • Http://oneworld.net.in/wp-content/uploads/forest-lanterns.pdf
  • Rohini, J.C
  • Reddy and Manish Raikar (2016), “Malnutrition -Free Enclaves”, Seminar, 681, May, p 44-47
  • Http://www.india-seminar.com/2016/681.htm

Additional Information

  • Location : , New Delhi LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jaya-c-reddy Global Public Health Economist cum Social Policy Specialist II Strategy Planning & MEAL Leadership II Policy & Evidence Advocacy Adv. Data Scientist & GenAI Expert II PMD Certified Professional - Project DPro-I, Program DPro-II, MEAL DPRo & Finance DPro

Timeline

Regional Senior Program Officer

R&E, Global Technical Services, GTS
10.2016 - Current

General Manager

10.2010 - 10.2016

Monitoring & Evaluation Officer

CARE India
11.2007 - 10.2010

MEAL, Azim Premji Foundation
04.2006 - 10.2007

Senior Research Associate

Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture
08.2000 - 04.2006

Senior Research Associate

ICAR

PhD - Economics

SV University

Post Graduate Diploma - Computer Applications

PGDCA -

Imperial College

PMD -

Johns Hopkins University

Project Management for Development Professionals (PMD Pro-I) Program Management for Development Professionals (PMD Pro-II) MEAL Development Professional Certification (MEAL DPro) Financial Management for Development Professionals (FMD Pro) PGIMER -

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)

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